1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power facility navigation system that, for rapid dispatch in a power system field service such as failure recovery or maintenance, sets a destination location using computerization codes of power facilities, electric pole numbers, customer names, trade names, addresses, numbers, equipment numbers and facility GIS coordinates, and performs a path-finding operation to guide a field technician in motion to the destination location to thereby shorten dispatch time, failure recovery time and customer power outage time, and enhance the customer support service. Further, the power facility navigation system enables fast path-finding on the basis of a basic map and facility map with a mobile terminal device having a limited capacity and performance, and interworks with a wireless communication network so that various field service activities can be handled in real time in the field.
2. Description of the Related Art
With popularization of in-car terminal devices and precision enhancement of the global positioning system (GPS), navigation systems for navigating the road have become widespread. In the electric power industry, demands are high for power facility navigation systems supporting rapid dispatch in the event of facility failures or maintenance activities. However, most commercially available products employ private data formats without standardization and provide services in static formats on the basis of national base maps, and hence may have difficulty in handling a vast number of spatial objects of power distribution systems and a large amount of attribute information of power facilities. Development of navigation systems requires high-end technologies and experience related to geographic information systems (GIS), which tend to be a target for protection. As the domestic market for navigation in Korea reaches over six millions in number, development of navigation systems specific to electric power systems is not active because of a relatively small market.
As to electric power systems, a facility navigation system is not in use in Korea. In the USA, Georgia Power employs a navigation system that can display a navigation path only in a text mode, not on a GIS map. In Japan, Kyushu Electric Power employs a separate personal digital assistant (PDA) converting map codes, and a commercialized navigator loading the converted map codes to navigate the road. As described above, although the demand is recognized for a power facility navigation system supporting rapid dispatch, failure recovery and facility maintenance, development thereof has been at a standstill owing to difficulty of technology development and limited market size.